"Well, you know, you're never happy when people lose their jobs," Lewis says. "But the one thing that has been made clear by the Census is that they were temporary jobs."

Those going back on the job hunt face a 10.2% Georgia unemployment rate, a number that could go up with the Census' end.

"They all knew going in that these positions were temporary, that they could last anywhere from three weeks to two months," says Joe Egan, Savannah Census chief. "And once they were over, they knew their employment with the Census Bureau would end, as will mine."